The possibility of nursing home placement terrifies many seniors and their families. The specter of loss of control and dignity is part of the problem, but financial concerns may also be overwhelming. It does not help that accurate information is so difficult to obtain. Myths about nursing home costs, long term care insurance and government benefits persist, making the situation more frightening and difficult.

Remembering that Arizona law may differ from that of other states (and, of course, from the systems in other countries), a few of the more common myths about nursing home costs include:

Myth: Long term care insurance is too expensive, and is only for the elderly anyway.

For many people, long term care insurance is the best choice for protecting against the exhaustion of assets required to qualify for government assistance with nursing home care. Although premiums can be expensive, the cost for younger applicants is dramatically lower. The average long term care insurance purchaser is in his or her late 60s or early 70s, but financial advisers recommend that insurance be considered by those twenty years younger.

Myth: Medicare will take care of my medical care if I should need to go to a nursing home.

Medicare is an extensive federal government program providing medical care to the elderly and disabled. Most American citizens and resident aliens over age 65 qualify for its excellent coverage. But Medicare’s nursing home benefit is almost entirely illusory.

Many Medicare beneficiaries believe that the program covers 100 days of nursing home care. But only the first 20 days are fully covered; the next 80 days require the patient to pay the first $96 of care each day. The program also limits its coverage to care which leads to improvement. In other words, once it is clear that the patient will not be likely to return home, Medicare coverage will end.

Medicare supplemental insurance policies and Medicare HMOs may help some nursing home residents. But neither kind of plan increases the length of coverage–most simply provide for the payment of the $96 per day charged to the beneficiary.

Myth: If either my spouse or I enter the nursing home, we will lose our home.

Neither the nursing home nor the government has any ability to “take” the home of a nursing home resident. If no long term care insurance is in place, and the patient does not qualify for Medicaid, the nursing home will expect to be paid each month. That does not mean, however, that the nursing home can “take” away the home–in fact, one’s homestead is exempt from the claims of unsecured creditors including the nursing home.

Once assets (and income) are diminished, the patient may qualify for Medicaid. If the patient’s spouse is still living in the home, Medicaid is not permitted to count the home as an available asset, and may not seek to recover the cost of care it provides by forcing sale of the home (or any other asset, for that matter). If the patient is not married, Medicaid may not force the sale of the home until after the death of the recipient, and even then only in some circumstances.